Key with metallic stem and plastic casing comprising a locking housing

Abstract

The key designed to mechanically actuate a lock comprises a metallic stem (1) with a longitudinal axis (2) and a plastic casing (3) rigidly connected to one end of the said stem. The casing of this key consists of a lower half casing (4) connected to the stem by a link (5) free to slide along the said longitudinal axis and an upper half casing (6) that is rigidly connected to the lower half casing and that comprises a post (7) perpendicular to the longitudinal axis that fits into a corresponding hole in the said stem to prevent any translation movement between the stem and the casing along the said longitudinal axis. With this layout, the lower half casing alone resists the torsion torque applied to the casing by the stem when a lock is being opened, without the addition of any other connecting part between the stem and the lower half casing, which significantly reduces the manufacturing cost of such a key and avoids the use of any visible part that could modify the style and appearance of the key.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.